Search the Community

Hi all New to the forums however have been growing plants including nepenthes for a few years now and am keen to expand my collection and really learn just grow some massive pitchers! I live in an apartment that has large windows so will be picking your collective brain! Best Wishes alex

Hello Everyone, I would like to provide and update on my attempts to grow a N ampullaria on a windowsill in the UK. I've always wanted to grow this plant. But since my girlfriend moved in, the space I'm allowed to dedicate to carnivorous plants has been somewhat restricted ("houses are for people, not for carnivorous plants" she says). So unfortunately I don't have space for a terrarium large enough to house a Nepenthes. A couple of years ago I thought I'd see whether it was possible to grow this plant on a windowsill. I bought a nice speckled ampullaria from Andreas Wistuba and simply placed it on a windowsill (that doesn't receive any direct sunlight) under some growlux tubes. The plant immediately stopped forming pitchers and as the months passed the rosette of pitcherless leaves was getting smaller and smaller. I suspected the plant was heading for a slow death. The next thing I tried was coiling a soil warming cable around the inside of the pot. This coil was attached to a thermostat which I set to 24C. Over the next few months the leaves slowly began to grow larger but still did not form pitchers. So then a few months ago I placed a plastic dome over the plant to increase the humidity. Here are some photos of my plant now. It responded very posittively to the increase in humidity and is now forming very nice pitchers. So it does appear to be possible to create the correct temperature and humidity conditions for lowland nepenthes on a UK windowsill; using a thermostatically controlled soil warming cable and a plastic dome. However this is not a cheap solution. The soil warming cable cost around £30 and the thermostatic controller cost around £45. I hope this post is useful for some other growers. Regards Mark

Hey Guys, As i said in my bog garden thread i am not 'spoilt' for room in my garden, or indoors for that matter But these are my INDOOR carnivorous-plants, to me they all seem to be doing ok. I am assuming by luck of how good they grow, east facing is ideal (this is lucky as no other windowsill available!) Let me know what you think of my little indoor collection. Monkey Cups (New in from Poland) - Only had for couple of weeks (I have now added a plastic bag over one for increased humidity?) Venus FlyTrap - New from Poland Baby VFT, Butterwort and a Saraccenia i rescued from an inexperienced shop (It was left bone dry!!) The other Saraccenia i rescued from the shop (it too was left bone dry). and finally a corkscrew sundew (only one not doing too well??